What is your dream? Do you know at what stage it is? What do you need to do next?
In the past several years of my earth life, I have seen many of my dreams come to pass, and there are many more on the horizon. They are all at different stages of development and preparation, but I expect they will each be complete someday.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a great deal about dreams, as in the desires of our hearts. All of us have a passion that determines and fuels our dreams. Dreams endure and beckon us to contemplate them often. What is your dream? Let’s see how it will develop.
Our dreams take preparation before they can be realized. There is a perfect analogy to the development of our dream in the development of a butterfly.
Think of what must transpire for a lovely butterfly to emerge strong and free from its former not-so-beautiful state. It all starts with the egg. The embryo is formed from cells of the parents and incased in the egg. Our dream begins the same way: with the egg. This is our infant thought-dream: a contemplation of what we want, that thing that makes us feel completely alive and gives us much joy: our dream. It also aligns with our gifts and talents, and it involves something we want to do. But in this stage, we are immature dreamers. The dream, and our grasp of it, is unformed.
All that the egg does is sit in its shell and grow. Over the pre-determined time, the tiny embryo expands and becomes stronger until it is ready to break the eggshell with its increased strength and volume. It’s the same with the first thought-dream that we have. It will grow and become stronger until we are ready to move it beyond the thought-dream stage to its next level of development.
After some days, a caterpillar breaks open its shell and sheds the egg. What does the caterpillar do once out of the egg? It eats! With a voracious appetite, it consumes mass quantities of food as its whole job now is to grow. Likewise, when our thought-dream develops to the next stage of growth, we must feed it with all the knowledge and training we can acquire. We must read books, take classes, attend seminars, study, study, and study some more. Just like that little caterpillar, as we eat, we grow and gain new stature.
Finally, when the well-fed and fat caterpillar has gained sufficient size and strength, it spins a cocoon all around itself where it will incubate safely for a while, secure from any outside harm or influence. Dreams too need a time of solitude. Some people won’t understand your dream or doubt your ability to realize it. This is a time to grow, but often in a private way.
While in the cocoon stage, the caterpillar undergoes a major transformation, and a metamorphosis occurs. It becomes something completely new and different as everything in its life up to this point blends together to form the final result.
Our dream self develops in us the same way. All our gifts, talents, desires, knowledge, and training come into play to make us new persons capable of manifesting our dreams.
We know what comes next. The gossamer butterfly, long known as the symbol of resurrection, emerges from its temporary cocoon-home and gracefully wafts its way heavenward.
These newfound wings are our new capability to begin the journey toward a destination that was once impossible. Our dream, that part of us that hopes and seeks to realize itself in the world, has reached a new stage. Consider the migration of the monarch butterfly, which travels from its summer grounds as far north as Canada to its wintering grounds as far south as Mexico. This annual migration can reach 3,000 miles—twice a year. No caterpillar, no matter how well-fed and how determined, could cover even a tiny fraction of that distance.
The dream must grow and transform the dreamer.
With some dreams, it can take years before we are sufficiently developed and ready for incubation. This incubation period may take months or years, but it can’t be rushed. After a period of incubation, our goal will become something we can bring into reality. It’s God’s design, and it assures the birth of our dream at the proper time, well prepared and ready to advance.
So, I ask you again: What is your dream? Do you know at what stage it is? What do you need to do next? Be encouraged and go after it with gusto.
